Former Foes: the inaugural 2009 edition

Time to bring out the wildly popular Former Foes: a weekly look back at Penn State's past competition and see how they are faring after playing the Nittany Lions. So how is Syracuse doing anyway?

Akron (1-3)

Central Michigan thumped Akron 48 – 21. The Chippewas jumped out to a 20 – Zip lead (see what I did there?) before Akron finally got on the board. Dan "I got a" LeFevour tossed four TD's and rushed for 140 yards and another 2 TD's on the ground. Central Michigan outgained Akron 523 to 196 and the most telling stat of the day: Akron was 1-12 on third down conversions. Yeah, it was total domination.
Next up: Ohio

Syracuse (2-3)

South Florida QB B.J. Daniels hit Carlton Mitchell with an 85-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the second half to break open a one-point game. Syracuse actually outgained the Bulls 344 – 333 but Greg Paulus threw an eye scorching 5 interceptions one of which was returned for a TD by defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul. 'Cuse wide receiver Mike Williams had a big day catching 13 passes for 186 yards and 2 touchdowns but it wasn't enough to overcome the 5 picks as South Florida held on for the 34-20 victory.
Next up: West Virginia

Temple (2-2)

Don't look now but Temple has the best record of all the PSU cupcakes after beating Eastern Michigan 24 – 12 Saturday. Temple jumped out to a 21-0 lead mainly on the legs of RB Bernard Pierce who had a great day rushing for 180 yards on 25 carries with two first quarter touchdowns. It was all the Temple defense would need as the Owls held the Eagles to 50 yards rushing on 29 attempts for a miniscule 1.7 yards per rush. Eastern Michigan used the shotgun approach to offense. That's shotgun as in the gun and not the formation. The Eagles threw to 8 different receivers but managed only 230 yards in the air with no touchdowns and 1 interception. Temple is now 2-0 in the MAC conference and get a winless Ball State next.
Next up: Ball State

Iowa (5-0)
Another game another head-scratching ending for Iowa. After taking a commanding 21-7 lead to begin the 4th quarter the Hawkeyes threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown and gave up another late but the comeback fell short as Iowa held on for the 24-21 victory over Arkansas State. The INT aside, Ricky Stanzi had a career high 296 yards and three touchdowns including two to WR Marvin McNutt who finished with 121 of those yards. Iowa outgained the Red Wolves 420 yards to 296 and start out 5-0 for the first time under Ferentz. The last time Iowa started out 5-0 was in 1995, when they promptly dropped 4 in a row to end the season at 8-4. Just sayin'.
Next Up: Michigan